“DUDE, WE’RE GOING TO ENERGIZE THE COUNTRY”
During his victory speech at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Johnson gave a typical BoJo performance as he could hardly contain his excitement over the fact that he finally achieved his leadership ambitions; one documentary has indicated that he has always had this drive since childhood when he allegedly dreamed of becoming “world king”. While he hasn’t quite achieved that goal, he has just become the leader of one of the most powerful and influential countries on the world stage.
The speech indicated his broad goals for the country, and reiterated his campaign slogan of Deliver (Brexit), Unite (the country) and Defeat (Jeremy Corbyn), he later added an E to the end of the slogan just so he wouldn’t have to celebrate an acronym that spells “DUD”:
“They forgot the final “E” my friends, “E” for Energize, I say to all the doubters: Dude, we are going to energize the country, we are going to get Brexit done by October 31”.
He also echoed Trump’s notions that he can transform the country back to its past glory days, albeit in a much more eloquent manner as said that the nation was a “slumbering giant” that would rise up from the negativity “with better education, better infrastructure, more police, fantastic full-fiber broadband sprouting in every household. “
While it is not customary for newly elected Prime Ministers to make concrete promises during their victory speeches (Margaret Thatcher famously quoted St Francis's prayer during her first interview outside 10 Downing Street), his speech has already achieved something intangible but valuable nonetheless: he is not Theresa May. The leaving Prime Minister, as many would recall, wasn’t the best speech giver. While she was well-spoken, she often displayed nervousness and her speech pattern had an uncertain cadence that often played into the hands of her political opponents, particularly Jeremy Corbyn during the Prime Minister’s Questions. She also didn’t carry herself as the strong leader that would lead the country out of the European bloc, remember she subtly tried to rebrand herself as the new Margaret Thatcher when she changed her fashion style to match that of the first female prime minister. By contrast, during his speech Johnson showed an aura of self-confidence and assertiveness that he was the right person for the job and that he would be the leader that would give Britain its “independence” and “sovereignty” back:
“I read in my Financial Times this morning that there is no incoming leader, no incoming leader has ever faced such a daunting set of circumstances, it said. Well, I look at you this morning and I ask myself, do you look daunted? Do you feel daunted? I don’t think you look remotely daunted to me. And I think that we know that we can do it and that the people of this country are trusting in us to do it. And we know that we will do it.”
It should be noted that Johnson has indicated some of his policies during the campaign trail. Notably, he addressed the issue of rising crime rates when he said that he aims to reverse cuts to police numbers that started since David Cameron took office back in 2010 and continued into May’s premiership. Johnson said that he aims to add 20,000 police officers to the streets of Britain by 2022. The BBC also reported that he wanted to try to alleviate the housing crisis, which has been a barrier preventing many young people from obtaining affordable homes. To do this, he said he build more affordable homes (he didn’t give further details how), would introduce fairer rent as well as bans and fines for rogue landlords. Johnson is also in favor of the previous government’s goal of reaching ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050 and has pointed to his record as Mayor of London as an indication of his commitment to the environment as he introduced a number of initiatives to the capital, namely introducing electric buses, planting more trees and building new parks.
ENEMIES WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE PARTY
Shortly before and after the announcement of Johnson’s premiership, a number of ministers have resigned from their positions or have announced their intention to resign. Anne Milton resigned as education minister minutes before the announcement and Sir Alan Duncan quit as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. Senior ministers such as David Gauke (Justice Secretary), Rory Stewart (International Development Secretary) and Phillip Hammond (Chancellor of the Exchequer ), have all publicly stated that they would leave their posts in the event of Johnson becoming the new Prime Minister and three have honored there word shortly after Theresa May’s final PMQs. The ministers cited Johnson’s willingness to take the country out of the bloc with or without a deal, as the reason behind their decision. Funnily enough, his opponent in the leadership race, Jeremy Hunt, has said during the last hustings that he is willing to serve in Johnson’s cabinet. Shortly before resigning, Hunt announced that Johnson had offered him an alternative role which he turned down. While he did not specify the post he had been offered, some reports indicate that Johnson wanted to appoint him defense secretary, which would have been a downgrade from his role as foreign secretary.
Naturally, the leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn has stated that he will not be giving the new Prime Minister an easy time, indicating that he is intending to table a vote of no confidence against the government, which if Johnson lost would trigger a general election. Corbyn has not said when Labor would table the motion: “We’ll decide when that will be, it’ll be an interesting surprise for all of you.” He told the BBC. Corbyn also tweeted: “Johnson's no deal Brexit would mean job cuts, higher prices in the shops, and risk our NHS being sold off to US corporations in a sweetheart deal with Donald Trump. The people of our country should decide who becomes the Prime Minister in a general election."
JOHNSON’S DIVERSE CABINET
Naturally, Johnson has appointed Brexiters and loyal colleagues in his cabinet, for instance, he has appointed David Frost as his EU advisor, Frost previously worked as a special advisor to Johnson when he was the Foreign Secretary. He also appointed Mark Spencer as Chief Whip and Dominic Cummings as Senior Advisor, Cummings, of course, is best known as the Campaign Director of Vote Leave.
As for the top ministerial posts, Priti Patel was chosen to become the new Home Secretary, Patel is an outspoken Eurosceptic and campaigned for Vote Leave in the run-up to the 2016 referendum, she has also supported Johnson during the Tory leadership competition. Sajid Javid has been appointed as the new Chancellor of Exchequer, this is a somewhat strange appointment since Javid backed Remain during the referendum (though he now says that he regrets doing so and is currently a Eurosceptic) and was part of May’s cabinet, the appointment, nonetheless, fulfills Johnson’s promise that he will include more women and ethnic minorities in his cabinet. Furthermore, his experience in the banking sector does make him a qualified person for the role. Dominic Raab, former Brexit secretary who quit May’s cabinet in protest of her deal, replaces Hunt as the new foreign secretary and he has also been given the honorary role as First Secretary of State, essentially making him the de-facto deputy Prime Minister. Stephen Barclay, who replaced Raab as Brexit secretary in November 2018 will keep his ministerial post. Johnson seems to have forgiven Michael Gove for betraying him back during the 2016 Tory leadership race (when he resigned as his campaign manager to run as leader himself), as he has appointed him as the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset, was given his first ministerial position having been selected to be the new Leader of the House of Commons; Mogg has been an ardent Brexiter who has chaired the Euroskeptic Tory group known as the European Research Group (ERG) and has also been a long supporter of Boris Johnson.
It should be noted that the cabinet isn’t composed of mainly Brexiters as only 12 out of 31 members are Leavers. Ben Wallace is the new defense secretary and is the highest-ranking remain supporter in the cabinet and has previously stated that a no-deal Brexit would be a risk to public safety, he is, however, an old ally to Johnson. Remainer and former leadership candidate, Matt Hancock has been spared from Johnson’s reshuffling as he will keep his job as health secretary. While Johnson has appointed Brexiters as his top ministers, the fact that Remainers or previous Remain supporters are present in his cabinet might make it difficult for him to produce the deal he and ardent Brexiters want. If he truly is “Britain Trump”, then cabinet clashes might persuade him to choose new replacements.
TENSIONS WITH THE EU
Outgoing European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said that there will be no further negotiations between the EU and the UK. However, Ursula von der Leyen, the newly elected Commission President, that the EU should give the UK an extension beyond October 31, provided that the latter has good reasons making the request. She is also not in favor of a no-deal scenario as she thinks it would have negative implications for both sides, it would also have terrible consequences for Ireland.
The problem for Johnson is that if he aims to commit to the October 31 deadline, then he will have to deal with Juncker and Donald Tusk, European Council president, both of whom will be staying in their posts until December 1. Both men have previously said that they will not reopen negotiations with the UK and that May’s deal is the final one that the EU will agree to. In an interview with BBC Panorama, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said that May’s deal is "only way to leave the EU in an orderly manner". He also took a jab at Johnson when he said that during negotiations, May has never threatened to leave the bloc without a deal, further stating that if the UK did so, then it would “have to face the consequences”.
While Johnson has already achieved his dream of becoming Prime Minister, he will still face leviathans both at home and abroad, needless to say becoming the leader was the easy part and the real work will only just begin.
